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Rodney Agnant '14, MA '23��

“Uncovering the Religious Dimensions of Leadership and Leadership Development”

Advisor: Chris Vecsey

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Caroline Strom '23;��

“Evil and ‘the Other’ : Levinas on the End of Theodicy”

Advisor: Benjamin (Ben) Stahlberg

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Yuqi (Angela) Zheng’23

“Chinese Ultimate Values and the Concept of Wealth”

Advisor: Harvey Sindima

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Eli Hearne�� �� �� ����

“The Monopoly on Judaism in Israel: Limits to Achieving Jewish Pluralism”

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Virginia Irby, MA

“The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly: A Discursive Analysis of George W. Bush’s Faith-Based and Community Initiativee”

Advisor: Megan Abbas

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Camden Koch���� ������ ��

“Religion, Identity, and Tolerance:��A historical analysis of the clash between Uyghurs and the CCP”

Advisor: Brenton Sullivan

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Liana Escue���� ��

“The Year of Jubilee: From Asceticism to Jubilation in Contemporary Christianity”

Advisor: Steven Kepnes

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Caroline Simon

“The Bible and Vision of the Evangelical Left”

Advisor: Jenna Reinbold

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Hannah Bailey���� ������ ��

“That Might Be Marriage, but This Is Not: Looking at the Same-Sex Marriage Debate Through the Lens of Interracial Marriage”

Advisor: Jenna Reinbold

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Hannah Coles���� ��

“Lucan Apologia on Trial: Hidden Transcripts, Resistance Ethics, and Status Reversal in the Gospel of Luke”

Advisor: Clarice Martin

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Louisa Fowler

“Latter-Day Saint Kinship: The Salvific Power of the Family”

Advisor: Chris Vecsey

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Virginia Irby

“The Country is Going to Hell: Conservative Christian Groups Use of Chaos Rhetoric as the Root of American Aversion to Same-Sex Marriage”

Advisor: Jenna Reinbold

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Sonia Ost

“How Would Jesus Vote: Contemporary Christian Issues Demonstrated through Voter Guides”

Advisor: Lesleigh Cushing

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Julia Wells

“Confronting the Constitutional Order: Reconciling Satan and the Free Exercise of Religion”

Advisor: Jenna Reinbold

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Zhelun Zhou

“More than Half the Sky: The Women's Virtue Movement in Contemporary China”

Advisor: Brenton Sullivan

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Rohan Chaudhari
"The Bengali Ontology:�� An Interpretation of Kolkata’s Durga Puja"
Advisor: Harvey Sindima

Abbey Curtis
"Forgotten Cremation Ceremonies: Geertz, Asad, and the Role of Ritual in Post–1965 Bali"
Advisor: Megan Brankley Abbas

Kyle Dillon
"The Moabite Masquerade: Construction and Complication of Identity in the Book of Ruth"
Advisor: Lesleigh Cushing

Andrew Fite
"From the Pews to the Bench:�� Examining the New Identity of White Christian America and the Emergence of its Speech-Oriented Legal Strategy"
Advisor: Jenna Reinbold
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Serena Mathew
"The Religious Mind:�� Considering Homo Religiosus in Light of Cognitive Science"
Advisor:�� Ben Stahlberg

Hannah Sachs
"Trumpism as Religion:�� An Explanatory Essay for Understanding the Reign of Donald J. Trump"
Advisor: Christopher Vecsey

Gillian Weatherford
"Pro-Life, Pro-Choice, Pro-America:�� How Abortion Encapsulates Broad Religio-Political Visions for the United States"
Advisor: Jenna Reinbold

Angela Barrett
“When Faith Healing Does Not ‘Work’: Complicated Roles of Faith Healing in Christian History and Pentecostalism”
Adviser: Ben Stahlberg

Greer Harrison
“Sisters of Israel: The Rhetoric of the Hebrew Bible and Its Response to Rape in Genesis 34 and Samuel 13”
Adviser: Lesleigh Cushing

Alec Hufford
“To the Hebrews, To the City: Efficacious Ritual Co-Participation with the Heavenly Liturgy as Seen in the Epistle to the Hebrews, Second Temple Precursors, and Early Ecclesial Commentators”
Adviser: Georgia Frank

Sophie Louaillier
“Understanding Conversion: An Exploration of Conversion to Islam by Incarcerated African American Men”
Adviser: Jenna Reinbold

Marit Vangrow
“At the Intersection of Faith and Reproductive Justice: Elevating Progressive Religious Voices in America’s Abortion Debate”
Adviser: Jenna Reinbold

Jade Hoang
“Releasing the Good Religion: An Investigation into Buddhist Peace Building Movements in Sri Lanka and Vietnam”
Adviser: Jenna Reinbold

Rita Shehirian
"‘After You!’ Neuroscientific Insights for Thinking Theodicy and Suffering Otherwise"
Adviser: Ben Stahlberg

Lila Sullivan
“Purity, Pollution, and Ritual: A Scheme for Understanding Hindu Ritual Modification Based on Sacrality of Water in India”
Adviser: Joel Bordeaux

Dominic Wilkins
“Examining Pope Francis’s Laudato Si’ within Catholic and Environmental Thought”
Adviser: Chris Vecsey

Julia Queller
"Jesus Rocks: Contemporary Christian Music and the Problem of the Secular"
Adviser: Jenna Reinbold

Joanna Howe
"Gender in the Garden: Rethinking the Creation Story in the Modern Era"
Adviser: Lesleigh Cushing

Rachel Jean Lewis Gordh
"The Impact of Film and Media on Political Change in Myanmar: Combating Religious Nationalism, Xenophobia, and the Genocide of the Rohingya People"
Adviser: Mahinda Deegalle

Susanna Kvam
"Church versus Czech: The Protestant Roots of Czech Secularism"
Adviser: Ben Stahlberg

Emmett Potts
"Governance, Religious Tolerance, and the Democratization of Fiqh: Opportunities and Challenges"
Adviser: Aaron Spevack

Dana Laxer
"From Sarah to #CrazyJewishMom: Depictions of Jewish Mothers through the Ages"
Adviser: Lesleigh Cushing

Sarah Gilkes
"The Usurpation of Divine Sovereignty: The Family of Secularism as a Threat within Religious Fundamentalism"
Adviser: Jenna Reinbold

Jill Goeltzer
"The Divine Power of Dance. A Cross Cultural Analysis"
Adviser: Chris Vecsey

Will Sanchez
"Ritual, Literature, and the Sacred: An Exploration of Latin@ Religious Worldviews"
Adviser: Chris Vecsey

Allie Silverman
"Not in My House: The Religious Conservative Defense of the 'Traditional Family' in the Secular Age"
Adviser: Jenna Reinbold

Grace Song
"An Elephant in the Classroom: The Problematic Privatization of Religion"
Adviser: Jenna Reinbold

Jessica Yeo
"Transforming the Self and Society through Recitation: Order and Affect in the Sound, Emotion, and Meaning of Qur'anic Recitation"
Adviser: Aaron Spevack

John D. Beam
"The Paradoxes of Reinhold Niebuhr: Political Theology and Just War"
Adviser: Ben Stahlberg

Anna Bivins
"The Canon of Dorothy Day: An Intersection of Persons, Community, and Scripture"
Adviser: Chris Vecsey

Gillian Gamberdell
"The Catholic Sex Abuse Crisis as Religious Behavior"
Adviser: Jenna Reinbold

Zach Harris
"The Psychic Space of Belief"
Adviser: Lesleigh Cushing

Loretta Douglas
"Banning Shari'ah: How an Empty Threat Became a National Concern"
Adviser: Jenna Reinbold

Kristen Ellis
"Neurology and the Supernatural"
Adviser: Chris Vecsey

Isaac Kim
"A Christian Defense of the Problem of Evil"
Adviser: Ben Stahlberg

Ellie Sher
"Flying Unhindered in the Space In-Between: An Examination of Play's Role in Peacemaking"
Adviser: Georgia Frank

Will Younger
"Reinhold Niebuhr and the Theology of Christian Realism"
Adviser: Ben Stahlberg

Benae Beamon
"Preaching as Play: Black Preaching in a Hermeneutics Perspective"
Adviser: Harvey Sindima

Jamie Beddow
"Solutions to the Problem of Creatureliness"
Adviser: Ben Stahlberg

Hannah Dashefsky
"The Exclusion of Religious Doctrine from the Public Square: A Critical Analysis of John Rawls' Theory of Public Reason with Special Consideration of its Application to Roe v. Wade"
Adviser: Jenna Reinbold

Casey Davidow
"Religion in American Political Realignments"
Adviser: Lesleigh Cushing

Francesca Gallo
"'A Brief Galilean Vision': Process Theology and the Pursuit of the Common Good"
Adviser: Marilyn Thie

Lauren Kerby
"Rights v. Right: Creating and Contesting the Limits of Religious Freedom"
Adviser: Jenna Reinbold

Naveed Ghannad
"Self Power and Other Power in Zen and Pure Land Buddhist Traditions"
Adviser: John Ross Carter

Samantha Steinfeld
"'A Discourse of Return': An Exploration of the Significance of the 'Traditional Family' for Modern American Evangelicals"
Adviser: Jenna Reinbold

Brett Butler
"Karl Barth: A Survey of His Developing Theology"
Adviser: Harvey Sindima

Max Counter
"Dynamics of Doubt: Uncertainty and Religious Life"
Adviser: Chris Vecsey

Jeremy Fisher
"Paul Tillich: His Theology and Its Implications"
Adviser: Harvey Sindima

Eric McGown
"Dorothy Day: Radically Catholic"
Adviser: Chris Vecsey

Melissa Nozell
"Integrating Identities: The British Effect on Defining and Codifying Religion in South Asia"
Adviser: Eliza Kent